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Articoli Correlati: trade mark - EU trade mark law - Court of Justice of the European Union

On 6 February 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union, in the case C-163/16, according to the additional Opinion of Advocate General Maciej Szpunar following the reopening of the oral procedure (the last hearing took place on 14 November 2017) maintained his view that the prohibition set out in the trade mark directive is capable of applying to a sign combining colour and shape and proposed the decision that such trade mark may be refused or declared invalid on the grounds set out under E.U. trade mark law that are capable of being applied to a sign consisting of the shape of the goods, and seeking protection for a certain colour. The Advocate General also took the view that the deciding factor in relation to the public’s perception is not the distinction between shape, colour or position marks, but rather the identification of the origin of the goods on the basis of the overall impression created by a sign. Lastly, he noted that his analysis is exclusively directed to the intrinsic value of the shape, and must take no account of attractiveness of the goods flowing from the reputation of the mark or its proprietor.